Project Report 2014-02-20

This week I’ve been working mainly on the Alpha presentation due Friday. It’ll be a short endeavour with an introduction speech and a subsequent showing of the game in this early phase. The shorter the presentation the more time required to prepare, as you need to figure out a way to cram as much information as simply as possible that can be relayed under the span of a handful of minutes. A most time consuming process as every sentence I write comes under scrutiny. Is this phrase worth to spend a few seconds on, is it on topic, does it compliment the essentials or does it stray too much off track, etcetera etcetera. It really forces me to think about what nails our project’s work and the game as a whole in meaning and what it truly means in a nutshell.

All too often does a wall of text, for all its depth and richness, loose clarity and with that I might as well have just not uttered a single word for the same effect of confusion in the audience. We’re not computers. We can’t be expected to be given a pile of papers and find substance in it. We need inspiration. If the producer doesn’t seem to care about the product, why should the consumer? That’s why we use more things to contribute to the relaying of information than just monotone speeches. We jest, joke and put emphasis with our words and voices to wake the listener up, often adding music, pictures and videos to give our minds something to latch on to so that they can keep focus.

Considering all this, I need to find the simplest answers to why the audience would be interested in hearing what I have to say. The simplest solutions are often buried deep in thought however. Wading through to get to it can be tough, but you simply need to give yourself time to do it. If we were computers we’d been able to find everything we were interested in faster than we can twitch our fingers, but we’re not. And so we have to give ourselves the time to figure things out.

As for working on the presentation itself it was a fairly simple matter of going through the various points with the group and ensuring there was unison on how the instructed subject matters would be addressed. As tempting it might be to just write something up on my own to save time I’m not the group. I might be its voice and face, but I must make sure that what I say reflect the others’ trail of thought and perspectives. I might think myself having a firm understanding of our common vision and goals but that’s an easy trap to fall in. No matter how crystal clear it seems to be you must always do regular check-ups with the other members on every matter. It has nothing to do with a lack of trust or poor memory; it’s just that our minds never think alike. And so we must nudge ourselves back in the intended direction or risk becoming lost.

On more technical matters I have little clue of what to do with the Power Point’s aesthetic elements. I did what I could to mimic the game’s tone and atmosphere into it with my limited knowledge, though I might be trying too hard. It’s just a short walkthrough of our project’s development so far after all. Still. No harm from trying to induce a bit of atmosphere into it.

Until next time!

Björn Erik Berndtsson. Graphics and Game Design.